by John Morgan, USA TODAY Sports

by John Morgan, USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO â?? Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson hoped to earn another shot at the belt with an impressive showing against Josh Thomson. Instead, Henderson had to settle for a hard-fought split-decision win that earned a chorus of boos from the crowd in attendance.

The lightweight bout was the main event of today's UFC on FOX 10 event at United Center in Chicago. It aired on FOX after prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Henderson took the center to start the contest and earned a smile from Thomson with an early high kick. Thomson quickly countered by moving inside and wrapping the body, slamming Henderson to the floor and immediately using his legs to lock in a body triangle and secure the back. Henderson patiently battled the hands as he looked for opportunities to escape, while Thomson looked at both the arm and the neck for potential submission opportunities.

Halfway through the round, Henderson worked to his feet, supporting the full weight of Thomson's body. The risk was rewarded, as Thomson elected to release his grip around his opponent's body and returning to the feet. From there, the two battled in the clinch until Henderson scored his own takedown with less than a minute remaining. As Thomson scrambled back up to his feet, Henderson locked in a standing arm-triangle choke and then fell to the canvas to try and finish the attempt. Thomson survived the effort and dumped Henderson on his head in the final seconds of a wildly entertaining opening frame.

Henderson went to the clinch early in the second, following coach John Crouch's instructions to use his physical strength to set the tone of the fight. Referee "Big" John McCarthy eventually separated them for inactivity, and on the restart it was Thomson who again slid around to the back and scored a takedown. Henderson again moved to his feet to work Thomson free, and they returned to the standup game, where they finished a razor-thin round.

Between rounds, Thomson told his corner his right thumb was broken.

Henderson turned up the pace in the third, and he attacked immediately with a Superman punch before scoring a takedown and eventually scrambling to the back. Thomson eventually spun into the position and worked free, and it was obvious he was hesitant to throw his right hand. He also struggled to grapple effectively, as he was unable to grip with his injured appendage. According to a FightMetric report, Thomson landed just two strikes in the round compared to 14 over the first two frames.

Henderson opened the fourth frame looking to damage the body with kicks. Thomson answered with a well-timed takedown, eventually falling into Henderson's rubber guard. As Thomson postured to attack, Henderson turned to his knees and created a scramble, eventually getting all the way to his feet and moving to Thomson's back. Thomson's nose was bloodied from Henderson's striking, but he pulled free and in the final minute and scored another takedown that earned him his opponent's back. As Henderson once again moved to his feet to shake free, Thomson made his case to the crowd, signaling for a few cheers in the waning seconds of the frame. Still, he was outstruck 41-8 in the period.

The judges' scorecards were anything but a certainty entering the final round. Henderson scored with an early knee to the body. Both fighters traded kicks to the legs, and a Thomson blow briefly swept Henderson to the floor. Henderson controlled the center of the cage, but the striking was back-and-forth in nature. In the final two minutes, Thomson worked to Henderson's back but simply could not drag him to the floor. The bell sounded to end another closely contested round, and the two fighters left the judges to decide a winner.

Two of the three felt Henderson did enough to win, and he earned a split-decision result with scores of 47-48, 48-47 and 49-46.

FightMetric statistics showed Henderson with a resounding edge in striking, 114-33, fueled largely by the discrepancy in rounds three and four, where he had 71 successful strikes to Thomson's 10.

No stranger to controversial decisions, Henderson (20-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) rebounds from his August loss to new UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. Thomson (20-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC) sees his lightweight title shot vanish with the result.